Chapters (59)
- COVER
- About the Author
- DEDICATION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- Acknowledgments
- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
‘Okay then.’ McKnight tucked his notebook into his pocket. His eyes caught Parker’s, long enough for her to grimace, then looked to me. ‘Miss King, I hate to have to tell you this, but we have confirmation that Mr Nolan is dead.’
A flash of panic. ‘What? How?’
McKnight stared at me, waiting, and when I didn’t say anything else: ‘We found his body this morning.’
No, I thought, shaking my head. No, it can’t be.
‘What?’ I repeated, my face going hot, my eyes stinging with moisture, my words practically spilling out. ‘Oh god. It’s not … it can’t.’ I shook my head. ‘Not John.’
Images bounced through my mind. John hurting himself on his hike through the dark, his body crushed, his bones damp and cold, the park rangers coming upon him in the night. He was supposed to be good at this. They had both said that, they had promised me he was.
The fall, the one we’d made up, what if it hadn’t been made up at all? What if the scream I’d heard was real? What if he’d done such a good job pretending that he’d actually slipped, crashing into the river, being washed away?
Oh god, John. Oh god, no. He should never have. We should never have …
‘Jesus,’ I managed. ‘He washed up somewhere?’ Acid roiled in my stomach. Around me, the world began to spin.
McKnight raised his eyebrows, patting the notebook in his chest pocket. ‘I could see how you would say that, since you did see him fall.’ He paused, giving me an opening. ‘But we didn’t find him in the river. Or the woods. We didn’t even find him in DEC territory, to be honest. I’m an Ulster County detective. DEC Officer Parker’s really only here to hand off the investigation.’
Investigation. I sucked in breath. ‘If it wasn’t in the woods, it must not be John. It can’t be John.’
McKnight’s head tilted to the side, as if trying to make sense of a different language. ‘Miss King …’ His voice trailed off.
Tears leaked from my eyes. I couldn’t get it out of my head, the image of his body dashing against the rocks. I’d told Vera we should check on him. I’d told her I was worried. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. It was all fake, something we made up. It’s not real, I wanted to scream. It’s not goddamn real.
None of this was ever supposed to be real.
McKnight cleared his throat.
‘John Nolan was found in his art studio, up near Claverack Creek. Ms Abernathy discovered him there this morning.’
TWENTY-ONE
‘There’s no way,’ I said, my voice cracking. ‘It’s not possible.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to say, but it is possible,’ McKnight said. ‘That’s exactly what happened.’